Rhetorical poetry in the U.S. becomes common during periods of social unrest and comes from poets standing (for the duration of the poem) for some sort of movement or viewpoint. I am a rhetorical poet. Usually in school we say “Oh it’s political poetry, we don’t like that.” We are taught to say that there are three kinds of poetry: Lyric, narrative and epic. They forgot “rhetorical.” Because we don’t name rhetorical poetry, we can’t see it, although when you read or teach Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son,” or Robert Pinsky’s “The Shirt,” a rhetorical poem is what you’ve got. It’s there but unnamed. It’s like eating grilled cheese and a pickle for lunch and not realizing it was a vegetarian meal.

Rhetorical poetry is not simply writing a poem about the cause of the month. Carolyn Forche said, “To become a political poet, change your obsessions.” You have to have something to say, feel it deeply, and take a stand on an issue. It helps if you’re a good writer. It helps if you’re part of a “we.” “We” makes a poem political.

I’m learning that writing is a powerful tool even more so when there isn’t any spelling error’s as you’ll find in my post but thanks for reading & understanding what I’m trying to say….